Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Russian: Дми́трий Анато́льевич Медве́дев) (born in Leningrad, September 14, 1965) is the third president of the Russian Federation, succeeding the current prime minister, Vladimir Putin. He was inaugurated on May 7, 2008, having won the March 2nd election with 70% of the vote. He is not a member of any political party, though he was endorsed by several.

Dmitry Medvedev has close ties to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and has been accused by opposition and numerous experts in the West as being heavily under his influence. In 2005, then President Putin appointed him as First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, and subsequently endorsed him for the presidency. Considered an economic liberal, Mr Medvedev was also chairman of Russia's enormous state-run gas monopoly, Gazprom.

Mr Medvedev claims that at the age of 23 he was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church, a decision he said he took himself.

QUOTES:

"We are well aware that no non-democratic state has ever become truly prosperous." - Dmitry Medvedev

"Even if the state retains a controlling interest... we aim to create public companies with a substantial share of foreign investment in their capital." - Dmitry Medvedev